Navajo Blanket Weaving

Through out the ages some of the most impressive feats of blanket weaving has been produced by the Navajo people. One of the most beautiful styles that the Navajo created are the “chief blankets”. These blankets have played a extremely important role in the survival of their people with the coming of Western society and are still continued to be made to this day

To understand the effort and significance of these works, first one must understand its people. The Navajo are thought to be descendants from the people known as the Athabascan’s, who migrated from Northwest of Canada and Alaska to the American Southwest around 1200 to 1500 CE . In the 16th century the Spanish conquistadors appeared in the Southwest and by the late 16th century began to subdue many of the native Pueblo people. It was because of this that many of the Pueblo people migrated westward into Navajo territory. Prior to this the Navajo had types of weaving. It is thought that they adopted weaving as well as some agricultural and ceremonial practices from these Pueblo people. This newly adopted craft was further changed with the introduction of sheep brought in by the Spanish .

Although weaving had caught on and become an important part of Navajo society, it was still considered something that weaver would when she had nothing else better to do with her time. This is why many of the rugs that were woven were done during the long, inactive winter, and ready for use and trade in the spring . As the Navajo women became more proficient with weaving blankets, they would use them for trade between other tribes, although they were not used specifically for this function. After a time these blankets, and more specifically the chiefs blankets became “the unit of exchange by which all other goods were measured ” .

By the mid 1800's the American army had taken control of much of New Mexico and Arizona. It was during this time that the U.S. Government put the scorched earth policy into effect in response to the “increased intensity of [Navajo] raids for sheep and other things on Pueblo and Spanish and Anglo settlers” . The scorched earth policy allowed the U.S. army to begin destroying the Navajo livestock and crops as well as kill any Navajo men who resisted arrest. By 1863 had the army rounded up over eight thousand Navajo and Apache people and drove them more than three hundred miles to a reservation known as Bosque Redondo. The idea of this reservation was to reprogram these natives to be more acceptable to western civilization. This depressing removal of the Navajo and the journey to the Bosque Redondo became known as the “Long Walk”.

Prior to Bosque Redondo in the early 1800's a very dominant pattern in Navajo blanket weaving had evolved begun to gain popularity with both other tribes and the European settlers. This pattern became know as chiefs blankets. The patterns on these blankets were very simple. They all it consisted of were horizontal stripes that ran the length of the blanket. These stripes were generally characterized as “ two zones of broad black and white stripes with wider black bands at the ends and a double- wide panel across the center. The end bands were embellished by pairs of narrower strips of indigo blue, with two pairs across the center” . This became known as the Chiefs Blankets First Phase (Fig. 1). These blankets became very popular even among other tribes and by 1833 were being used for trade between the Great Plains tribes.

These blankets continued to evolve into two more phases over the next fifty some years. The next evolution in the chiefs blankets occurred during the 1850s as well as the 1860s and was know as the Second Phase (Fig. 2). This phase stayed true to the original format of horizontal stripes of the first phase, however it now included simple geometric shapes (generally rectangles and terrace shaped triangles) on the corners and in the center of the blankets and slightly more color variation. By the mid 1860s this pattern too gave way to yet a third and final phase of chief blankets. Still including the original format of the two previous patterns, the weaver would now often use a terrace shaped diamond in place of where other geometric shapes had been (Fig. 3). Sometimes there were even two adjoining diamond in the center of the blanket.

Because of the popularity the Navajo were able to live comfortably and became very prominent in trading. From the 1840's through the 1890's the Navajo weaves were considered some of the finest in the world. These blankets were sought for several reasons, such as warmth, durability and their ability to repel water. Most importantly however was their overall beauty . The majority of the chiefs blankets that were produced for trade in the early 1800s were traded primarily to the Plains Indians as well as the Pueblo Indians, although there was